Tiny Home Community Being Revived In Springfield

June 8, 2017

Breathing new life into Dancy Terrace, a community of historically-significant, tiny homes in Springfield.

Bungalow courts in Jacksonville are not confined to the Dancy Terrace development. Although the remaining examples are not intact as Dancy Terrace, the remnants of three other similar courts can be found in the urban core.

Located in the Mixontown neighborhood, near present-day Riverside and Brooklyn, is the remnants of a bungalow court centered on Wade Drive. This development dates back to 1924 and featured a dozen bungalows each of roughly 770 square feet in size. Today, many of the bungalows have been torn down and the remaining structures have seen better days. Wade Drive stands as a reminder of what was once a dense, urban, working class neighborhood that once contributed to a thriving urban core, that today has largely been wiped off the map.

Located on the Westside of Springfield between 9th and 10th Streets, Pearl Place was also built around 1924. Less than half of the original structures still remain, but the physical form of this bungalow court still largely remains. The units within this development are larger than any of the other bungalow courts in Jacksonville, featuring structures of 1,065 square feet.

Located just a stone's throw from Dancy Terrace lies Hubbard Terrace, built around 1914. At first glance, one might mistake this area as part of Springfield's alley system, the four structures still remaining on site were once part of a bungalow court adjacent to an alleyway on the East side of Springfield between 9th and 10th Streets. This particular example is harder to pinpoint as many of the remaining 840 square foot bungalows have closed in their signature porches and erected fences. Nevertheless, this was once a thriving community of small homes with a shared space running down the middle of each parcel.